[UK-CONTEST] 144MHz AFS: Team Camb-Hams

[Robert Chipperfield]

Almost exactly a year ago, I decided to try my first solo contest entry. 
I borrowed a 9-ele Tonna from Neil, G4HUN, put it on a 20' push-up mast 
in the back garden, and sat down next to it with the IC-7000 on a 
camping table, powered by a car battery. I made 10 QSOs before getting 
too cold and going indoors. I was the only entry for the Camb-Hams, the 
"social side" of the Cambridgeshire Repeater Group

What a difference a year makes.

Shortly after, the group was donated Flossie, a Fiat Ducato van equipped 
with a 20m pneumatic Clark mast by the University of Cambridge Computer 
Lab. It needed some work to make it roadworthy again, and by February, 
we had it kitted out for portable operation. Since then, we've been 
active as G3PYE/P on many of the Tuesday evening UKACs, from a whole 
variety of different locators - who's going to call grid square bingo 
first? :-)

Those of us out in the van have had great fun, but more importantly, 
it's encouraged a lot of other local stations to come on air as well. 
Some take the event reasonably seriously and put in very respectable 
entries; others aren't contest oriented at all, but enjoy supporting 
those who are.

This year, we decided to put on a reasonable effort for 144MHz AFS, and 
so the planning started earlier than the 10am on the day of the contest 
I'd managed in 2009. Obviously we'd need to do a lot more than just get 
Flossie to a good site if we wanted to achieve a good result. Support 
from the whole group was fantastic: those with stations at home but who 
didn't want to operate for the full event teamed up with those with 
contest experience and enthusiasm but without kit; the largely 
HF-oriented CUWS shack, G6UW, was pressed into service, and a few more 
adventurous types decided to go out portable.

For my own part, the story starts similarly: I borrowed a 9-ele Tonna... 
but this time, the 20' Sandpiper had been upgraded to a 40' Clark Scam 
12, which coupled with the stub masts and rotator took the antenna to 
around 45'. The rotator meant I could operate from the comfort of the 
shack, and a 100W linear was added for a little more oomph.

Cambridgeshire is not well known for its hills, and a site 10m ASL isn't 
exactly prime VHF real-estate, but it still wasn't the lowest of our 
stations: G4ERO wasn't much above 5m ASL, and G0BOE/P climbed a 
veritable mountain to 2m ASL! Flossie, meanwhile, went in search of 
higher ground, managing nearly 70m.

The thing that made me smile most during the contest was when one 
station, I think 2E0XBF, commented, "I never work anyone in JO02, and 
there's hundreds of you today!"

So, to the numbers. For the five full-time stations, claimed scores were:

G3PYE/P: 191 QSOs for 35,506 points
G4ERO: 105 QSOs for 16,430 points
M0VFC: 103 QSOs for 15,114 points
G0DDX: 90 QSOs for 12,328 points
G6UW: 81 QSOs for 10,210 points

But that's only half the story. Here's the complete list of Camb-Hams 
operators that I'm aware of (in no particular order) - apologies if I've 
missed anyone:

- M1BXF and G8TMV @ G3PYE/P
- M0LCM and G4ERO @ G4ERO
- M0VFC
- G4NBS and G0DDX @ G0DDX
- G3ZAY, M0BLF and G7VJR, with assistance from Ella, K9/G7VJR @ G6UW
- M3YJW/P
- M0VMC/P
- G0BOE/P
- G6KWA
- G4BAO
- G4HUN
- G1SAA
- G6HFS
- M1XZG/M
- 2E0JYK
- M1MAJ
- M3ZCB

That makes a total of 22 people (+1 dog) involved in the weekend's 
effort - and what an effort it was! Our scores might not match those of 
G4DEZ and M0GHZ et al, but I finished the contest with a huge grin on my 
face, before heading off for a great Thai curry with G7VJR, G8TMV and M1BXF!

73 all, and thanks for the points!

Rob, M0VFC